cooked rice being left out on side.

ok mini rant , but tell me if Im wrong. my DS has cooking next week and risotto (using long grain rice ) He has to bring in precooked chicken to add to said rice and sweetcorn,mushroom and stock .My problem is ,if the finished dish is l put in the fridge when the rice is still warm I am seriously concerned about Listeria (food poisoning )So tell me am I worrying for nothing .

ok not having a pop but I thought that if you put say a casserole sized dish of warm risotto in the fridge because its still warm in the middle the bugs would start multpling and this would cause the food poisoning.

the longer the food remains at room temp, the more likely the bugs will multiply. It should be cooled as quickly as possible, then refrigerated, kept cool during transport, reheated as quickly as possible and then eaten, and not reheated again. Though, if the chicken is pre cooked, that would contravene the 're heat only once' rule. Its called the cold chain something or other (kids learnt it during food tech GCSE) and teacher should know about it. Not sure how it can be acheived, really....ask the teacher.But putting the rice in the fridge, itself, is not the problem.

I would spread the rice out as much as possible, preferably on a large cold flat plate (you can put plate ahead of time in freezer/fridge to get icy cold), cover it with cling film and then put it straight away in the fridge.

Turn fridge to a colder setting a few hours in advance, so other products in fridge don't get too warm once the cooked rice comes in.

Alternatively put the rice in a large deep tray once cooked, place the tray in a sink full of cold water with ice cubes added. Leave it for about 15 minutes and then transfer rice to plastic box and pop in fridge/freezer.

ok so rice is cooked pr cooked chicken is added to rice with stock and other stuff..so if the dish with warm rice and pre cooked chicken in is put in the fridge whilst still warm and then REHEATED at home is this ok . (Im thinking its not ok )

A lot of the things the DCs have cooked at secondary school seem to be about chopping and throwing things into a pan.

FWIW I think they should spend more time on learning how to make shortcrust pastry, flaky pastry, cakes made with the creaming, melting and whisking method, arrowroot glazes, roux sauces, making bread from scratch, marzipaning, flat icing and piping a Christmas cake. I learnt all these skills at school.

I think piping a christmas cake may be going a bit far, but agree they ahould be learning to cook from scratch (ie raw, unprepared ingredients) not just throwing stuff together. DS had to make a crumble using 'a jar of pie filling' ffs not in my house!

I think they should be learning to cook basic meals to feed themselves, about economising, healthy eating, where food comes from etc. Start with spag bol & chilli, stir fries & other fairly healthy & straightforward meals. I could have done with a lesson on how to chop and peel things safely to start with too. I remember taking ages to peel an onion and being not quite sure where to start when I was 12.

I think they should learn about how to tell when things are off, what to look for when buying fish and meat, different cuts and what they're good for etc. And also probably learn about food safety which I suppose would not allow for reheating chicken twice!

I'd eat it though, butI do all kinds of crazy things like reheat takeaway rice that's been on the side all night with no ill effects sofar.

Hazelnut don't even go there.Lol.I phoned school and spoke to food tech lady and basically made out that I was pretty much guessing that DS had got his information wrong (not) she did say that rice was going to be put in food fridge and agreed that he could make a veggie rissoto .So happy now as not wasting money as it would have gone on the bin.Lol.